'Mugabe
stole my farm'

Zimbabwan President Robert Mugabe has built up a secret
farming empire from land seized from at least five white-owned businesses,
an Independent Foreign Service investigation has found.

The
discovery of the holding worth about R22 million is the first evidence of
how he personally benefited from the land seizures programme which started
in 2000.

More than 4 000 commercial farmers had their land grabbed
in the drive that destroyed Zimbabwe's agriculture industry, the bedrock of
the economy.

The country, now being guided by a power-sharing deal
struck last year between Mugabe and his rival, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
desperately needs to rebuild its shattered economy.

But
Mugabe's private farming empire is an obstacle to resurrecting commercial
agriculture, according to experts.

They say an audit of land
ownership as part of essential structural reforms would expose the
president's controversial control of the 4 050ha area.

The
Independent Foreign Service located Mugabe's private empire in the
Darwendale area, near his tribal home, 48km west of the capital Harare. It
is made up of six farms, including five properties seized from white owners
over the years.

The 445ha Highfield farm near Mugabe's tribal
home was bought commercially but five others were seized from their white
owners. Three were owned by the Skea family - Cressydale, John O'Groat and
Tankatara - who were forced out between 2000 and 2002 and have emigrated to
Australia and New Zealand. The owners of the other two farms - Clifford and
Cressydale - were forced out in 2006 and 2008.

Leo Skea, who
used to grow proteas and other crops at John O'Groat, said: "We arrived back
from Europe in July 2002 to a farm overrun with war vets and we made the
decision to leave as we could feel ourselves getting back on the treadmill
to who knows where."

According to staff, the five seized farms were
initially run by the government's Agricultural Rural Development Authority
(Arda), which poured in millions of rands of Zimbabwean taxpayers'
money.

One long-serving worker recalled the frightening days when
the farm invasions began in 2000.

"First, the president bought
Highfield. Hordes of people were brought to another farm in open trucks and
gathered all the workers, and told them it now belongs to Arda," he said.
"Those who didn't want to work for Arda were beaten up and told to leave the
farm, and the invaders started staying in the houses."

Workers
said Arda's role was reduced in 2006 and a small group of "war veterans"
occupying some of the land were also asked to leave to make way for
Mugabe.

One of the war veterans said Mugabe had made sacrifices for
the freedom of Zimbabwe, including a decade in jail, and deserved to have
the land which now makes up his estate. He said: "He is our
hero."

On several visits to the estate, it was clear that the six
farms were now being operated as a single business.

Workers
said they were now employed either by Mugabe or "Gushungo", his family name,
which is also the new name for the estate.

"We were told the farms
belong to the president," said the worker, who cannot be named for his own
safety, or the farm on which he lives identified.

The
appropriation of the farms by the president has not been officially
confirmed. Earlier this year, the state-controlled Herald newspaper referred
to Highfield as "the president's farm" but there was no mention of the
neighbouring land.

The total estate now stretches over 4 050ha on
the edge of Lake Robertson, including homesteads, managers' cottages,
workers' houses, huge barns, sheds, workshops and 19 recently-acquired
portable rotating irrigation systems known as centre pivots which cost about
R940 000 each.

Mugabe visits every three months or so, according to
workers.

Staff say Mugabe grows maize, rice, wheat, different
sorghums, and sweet potatoes, and has a herd of Brahman cattle, goats, plus
five camels. According to the official press, the Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi presented Mugabe with camels.

The lush lands of
Mugabe's estate contrast sharply with former white-owned land in much of the
country.

Zimbabwe's white commercial farmers, and their tens of
thousands of workers, used to produce exports which earned 40 percent of the
country's foreign currency. But now satellite images indicate that less than
20 percent of the 8 million hectares that were seized are in
use.

A crucial clause in the political agreement signed between
Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC party a year ago demands a land audit as a
preliminary step to rebuilding agriculture.

Brian Raftopoulous,
a top Zimbabwean political scientist, said: "This is part of Zanu-PF's rapid
accumulation of property since 2000 and explains in particular the deep
relationship between Zanu-PF's unwillingness to accede to a free and fair
election, and its increasing control of land.

"A land audit would
expose the deep levels of corruption of public resources over the last
decade, a very real blockage in the political agreement," said
Raftopoulous.

Mugabe even argued as part of his justification for
seizing farms that no one should have more than one farm.

Trevor Gifford, the past president of the Commercial Farmers Union, said
that as the properties were originally under six different title deeds,
Mugabe was "breaking his own rules".

"None of owners of the
five farms have been paid any compensation for them, which they should be
according to the law," he said.

Vincent Gwaradzimba, the MDC
secretary for lands and agriculture, said: "A land audit would expose that
he (Mugabe) has multiple farms, so one way to avoid a land audit is to make
sure there is no full implementation of the political
agreement.

"The land reform exercise was meant for the few senior
members of Zanu-PF, and they have taken most of the good land for
themselves."

Independent Foreign Service has asked Mugabe whether
he has received title deeds for the five seized farms but has not received a
response.

No response has been received to requests for comment
from Mugabe's office, his spokesman, the agriculture ministry, or the
central bank. - Foreign Service

This article was originally
published on page 1 of Sunday Independent on September 27, 2009

The Swiss food giant buys up to a million litres a year from
Gushungo Dairy Estate, controlled by Mrs Mugabe, picturedPhoto: AP

The Swiss food giant buys up to a million litres a
year from Gushungo Dairy Estate, controlled by Mrs Mugabe since, according to
other dairymen, the previous white owner was forced by a campaign of violence to
sell his property to the authorities for a knock-down price.

Under the European Union and American targeted
sanctions against members of Mr Mugabe's network, it is illegal to transfer
money or make transactions respectively with Mrs Mugabe.

Switzerland has its own set of sanctions, similar to
the EU measures, which also target Mrs Mugabe and which prohibit providing funds
to her or putting them 'directly or indirectly', at her disposition. Nestlé
denies that it has broken Swiss law.

A Nestlé spokesman confirmed that at the end of last
year, after eight of its 16 suppliers in Zimbabwe went out of business, Nestlé
Zimbabwe - its subsidiary in the country - started buying milk on the open
market, some of it from Gushungo Dairy Estate.

At first it bought it through a third party, but has
been buying it directly since February, he said. "Nestlé does not provide any
support, financial or otherwise, to the Gushungo Dairy Estate or to any
political party in Zimbabwe," he said. "Nestlé is a truly global company which
operates in almost all countries in the world, and therefore its products are
found in widely diverse political settings."

The spokesman said Nestlé had "absolutely not" broken
Swiss law.

"The legislation is internal to Switzerland," he
said. "In any case, Nestlé Zimbabwe and any commercial transactions it engages
in within Zimbabwe are subjet to Zimbabwean law."

Georgette Gagnon, the Africa director of Human Rights
Watch, called for international investigation. "The set of sanctions that exist
now are very important and must be maintained in the face of the continuing dire
human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

"If these reports of this company buying things in
violation of sanctions are true then obviously the Swiss government and the EU
need to take action on this. They need to close this breach of sanctions."

If the evidence was "clear and unequivocal", she
added, a consumer boycott was "one tool to let companies know that consumers are
very concerned about their behaviour and won't tolerate it".

Amy Barry, spokesman for the anti-corruption NGO
Global Witness, said: "Nestlé should ensure that it is not either directly or
indirectly propping up illegitimate or brutal regimes.

"If it's true it's gravely serious and we would think
it's something the European Commission and the Swiss would want to look into."

Zimbabwe's Army Brigadier Holds On To Farmer's Crop

Harare, September
27, 2009 - A Zimbabwe National Army Brigadier has ignored a court order to
allow Headlands farmer, Charles Lock access to his USD 700 000 tobacco and
maize crop.

Lock told Radio VOP at the weekend that
Brigadier General Justin Itayi Mujaji had threatened to gun him down if he
enters the farm despite a court on order on Thursday granting him an
application to access his crop.

Soldiers deployed at Karori farm by
Mujaji, barred Lock from getting on to the farm in full view of the
police.

"Armed soldiers barred me from entering the farm when I
went there on Friday after the High Court ruling," said Lock, whose case
mirrors the situation of thousands other commercial farmers who have been
illegally and violently driven off their farms by top government and
security chiefs.

High Court judge Bharat Patel ordered the police
to assist the Sheriff or Deputy Sheriff to ensure that Lock is able to
access and control all his movable assets, including crops on the farm in
Headlands,Manicaland.

The ruling follows an application by Lock to
the High Court seeking an order to bar Mujaji, from interfering with the
control of the farmer's goods."The applicant (Lock) has full and
unfettered right to remove all and any of the goods, as well as any other
move able assets, including his equipment and fittings in the tobacco barns,
cattle handling facilities, household and personal effects, from the land
referred to above," ruled Justice Patel. "This order shall remain in
operation notwithstanding the noting of an appeal against it. The costs of
this application shall be paid by the first respondent (Mujaji) on an
attorney-client scale."

Lock wanted the court to force the army
general to allow him to move about 150 tonnes of tobacco, grown under
contract and financed by international tobacco companies to auction floors.
The farmer had also asked the court for an order to allow him to move about
500 tonnes of maize to buyers such as the Grain Marketing
Board.

Lock's court challenge is one of many by white commercial
farmers.

Before this latest High Court order, lock had obtained two
eviction orders against Mujaji both of which had been
ignored.

Mujaji's action mirrors the lawlessness on the farms
and disregard of the law by security officers most of whom are staunch
supporters of president Robert Mugabe.

The often violent land
seizures have been blamed for the country's food shortages.

In November last year, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Tribunal ruled that farmers whose land was seized must be compensated by the
government. But Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the SADC Tribunal
ruling would not be enforced and that Harare had pulled out of the
Tribunal.

However, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has since
said Minister Chinamasa was misdirecting the nation through making
unilateral decisions without cabinet authority.

On Sunday
Britain's Daily Telegraph said it had covered Mugabe's secret farming
empire, combining six farms that had been taken from white commercial
farmers. One of the farms is being used as a dairy farm by his wife, Grace,
who sells about one million litres of milk a year toSwitzerland based
company, Nestle.

Mugabe told a United Nations General Assembly last
week that Zimbabwe's land grab was the best thing that ever happened to
Zimbabwe.

Farmer In Court For 78th Time

Harare, September 27, 2009 - A Zimbabwean
farmer will on Monday mark his 78th court appearance, just for continuing
farming activities and feeding a starving community that has largely been
reliant on his help over the years.

Robert Anthony
McKersie, who operates from a 497 hectare Plot One of Chipungu Farm in the
Doma district of Makonde, has personally been involved in the upkeep of 18km
of Rural Council road on a voluntary basis and over these years supported
one secondary and two primary schools. He also supports a local clinic with
medicines.

"I'm going to court next Monday for my 78th time
on exactly the same charge. I have been acquitted three times, withdrawn
before plea twice, withdrawn before appeal once and I've had a High Court
order. Six acquittals altogether and have been in court for the same issue.
These court issues don't seem to be going away despite what we do," said
McKersie.

Despite his troubles, McKersie says his faith in
God and trust in "fellow Zimbabweans, irrespective of race and colour" has
kept him going.

"I was born and bred here, so were my
parents, so is my grandfather. My children are in school here. We are
Zimbabweans, we continue to fight for what is right and what we voted for.
That gives me strength. I have no foreign passport, I cannot go anywhere,
I'm a Zimbabwean through and through. The only crime I have got is ganda
jena (white skin). I'll fight here alongside Zimbabweans who are the most
wonderful people in the world. That gives me strength," said
McKersie.

But the constant muggings and harassment, and his
legal fees have all but dried his pocket, while the schools, hospitals and
all the other community projects have become victims of the violent land
grab.

The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), which represents
most of Zimbabwe's remaining white farmers numbering about 400, says over
170 of its members have been prosecuted for continuing operations on land
earmarked for seizure by the government.

"An
estimate.showed that affected farmers are currently forking out some $88,000
per month to defend themselves against the punitive prosecutions being
brought against them by the office of the Attorney General," the CFU says in
its 2009 report.

"An extrapolation of these figures against
the unknown cases (shows) an estimated $2 million is being paid out by
farmers to defend these punitive charges during a period of extremely low
income and productivity."

"I have been financing two
primary schools, one secondary school and one clinic. As we talk now they
have no facilities, school books are non-existent and I'm not in a financial
position anymore where I can continue donating books and medicines as I used
to. I'm in a huge financial squeeze as well because of these court
cases."

"I enjoy massive support of the local community and
am involved in a number of local community projects, particularly those
involving agriculture which encourage transfer of skills. I am also involved
in the upkeep of 18km of Rural Council road on a voluntary basis. I have
personally paid for the education of 242 children from primary level, which
culminated in 3 of them going to University," said
McKersie.

McKersie remained with the 497ha plot after
ceding about 300ha to government in May 2002 for resettlement to landless
blacks. Of the 497ha McKersie has remained with ,only 151 ha is
arable.

"I have not received any compensation for the area
that I ceded to government," said McKersie.

What he has
received, consistently, ever since are summons, violent arrests and death
threats, from Zanu PF sympathisers and a judiciary that has been "arm
twisted" over the years to rule against former commercial white
farmers.

Since 2004, McKersie has been in court a record
seventy-five times, sometimes on charges had been withdrawn before plea
before or on charges in which he had been acquitted before. Each year
McKersie had either a new case opened or had carryovers of cases from
previous years.

Some charges have been "resurrected", while
some have been "revisited" and at times same charges have been preferred
under different case numbers.

McKersie was dragged before
the courts first in October 2004, case 443/04 and appeared in court four
times that month before the case was withdrawn before plea.

In
May 2005, he was charged with Section 8 and Section 9 (1) (ii) of the Land
Acquisition Act and was taken to High Court, H/C 2138/05, by the man who
invaded his farm, Nyasha Nyangani, an alleged employee of the feared Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and relative of the then Lands Minister
Dydmus Mutasa. The High Court dismissed the case the same
month.

In complete defiance of the High Court ruling,
Nyangani invaded the farm and assaulted McKersie and his manager the night
after the court ruling.

From May 2005, McKersie, was in
court under Case 125/04 only to be discharged in October of the following
year.

Exactly one year after that, McKersie was back in
court this time under Case 215/07 facing same charges. The case was
withdrawn before plea on 8th May 2008 before it was re-opened in November of
the same year only to be withdrawn before plea the same month. This was
McKersie's 62nd court appearance.

In between the court
appearances, McKersie faced violent assaults and arrests for violating his
farm invader's peace. The invader, Nyangani subsequently "obtained" peace
orders against McKersie.

In February this year, McKersie
was acquitted of "all land cases" on his 67th court appearance before
something strange happened in that court. He was advised that his company
that runs the farm, Chipungu Farm (Pvt) Ltd, was now being charged. Starting
a news series of court appearances up to the 75th
appearance.

Despite the myriad of charges or court
appearances, McKersie has never been convicted on any single
charge.

McKersie is one of the many farmers that have been
dragged before the courts on charges of occupying land that some senior
official cherish in their dreams.

In Manicaland, the
District of Mutare North, Paul Grobler who owns Geluk A, measuring 776.849
ha, also faces the same fate with McKersie.

Grobler's farm
operations include 42ha of tobacco and 30ha under
maize.

The beneficiaries of the subdivision were a Collin
Mugayi- 168ha, a G Mambara -141.5 ha, and a Chief Magistrate H Mawayera
90.55 ha.

Mugayi is alleged to have already occupied an A2
plot at Alma farm in Odzi and Mambara has A2 plot no 47 at Tiverton Farm
Nyazura. Mugayi works in the DA's office in Mutare

Grobler's farm was never gazetted for compulsory
acquisition.

He was first summoned to court on 12 February
2009, was remanded 9 times before trial. When trial started on 19 June 2009,
Grobler was remanded to 26 June 2009. The case is on
going.

In Manicaland, Makoni district another farmer
Raymond Finaughty of Harland Brothers P/L, farming on Manda Estates A have
also been in court a number of times. Their farm is wanted by a Reserve bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) worker Winnie Mushipe.

Finaughty
first appeared in court in November 2007, was remanded 6 times before the
case was dismissed in August 2008. Fresh charges were preferred on 7 May
this year. He has since then appeared severally in court.

Finaughty is one of the farmers that approached the regional body, the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal seeking redress for
farms compulsorily acquired by the government.

The
beneficiary, Mushipe, has attempted to have Finaughty evicted in both the
magistrates court and in High Court. In the High Court presiding judge
Felistas Chatukuta reserved judgment in the matter on 17 June.

Dollar Prices Mean The Poor Go Hungry

Written by Simpiwe
PilisoSunday, 27 September 2009 06:22Supermarket prices in
Zimbabwe's capital Harare are soaring - putting a number of basic
commodities out of the reach of the average consumer.

A snap
survey by Business Times at a Spar in Borrowdale, one of the city's upmarket
suburbs, confirmed that scores of Zimbabweans cannot afford to even fill a
shopping basket.

This is despite the fact that the twice-yearly
Economist Intelligence Unit survey, which is intended as a guide for
multinational companies who have employees living around the world, recently
ranked Harare as the world's second-cheapest city to live in.

After the collapse of the country's economy, in April the government
licensed businesses to sell goods in foreign currency, mainly the US
dollar.

However, the government insists that US$1 is equivalent to
R10, ignoring the official exchange rate.

A shopping basket
consisting of a litre of milk, a loaf of bread, 500g margarine, 1kg rice,
1kg potatoes, 1kg onions, 1kg tomatoes, six eggs, a 2kg chicken pack, one
litre of orange juice, 120ml deodorant and 100ml toothpaste costs about $29
(R290). This is equal to a fifth of the average civil servant's monthly
salary.

Borrowdale Spar was one of the few supermarkets that had
goods on the shelves last year, while other retailers and supermarkets had
gaping empty shelves.

The Spar was also among the first
businesses licensed to sell goods in hard currency in October last
year.

A recent report by the international civil society
organisation Civicus argued that selling in US dollars and South African
rands had pushed up prices of basic food items, water, fuel and medicines,
"putting them out of reach of ordinary people".

Last week, most
service stations in Harare were selling petrol at $1.20 a litre, while a few
charged $1.17.

Diesel was $1.06 a litre.

While the
average salary for a civil servant is about $150, a teacher's average salary
recently increased from about $80 to $155, according to Harare-based
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, an NGO working towards social
justice regarding issues of debt and trade.

But in a statement
issued earlier this month, teachers' unions Zimta and PTUZ called the
increase "inadequate" and not a proper living wage.

The unions said
that even with the salary increases teachers would be unable to provide for
families and that, at current costs, the average Zimbabwean family requires
at least three times the increased salary to meet its basic
needs.

But, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit survey,
"Harare has been ranked the least-expensive global location for several
years, mainly due to hyperinflation and a constantly weakening currency.
This year Zimbabwe's cost of living index has jumped 118% and it is now
ranked 275th most expensive out of 276 global locations."

Harare Water's chaotic billing defies logic

Written by LOREEN
MUPASIRIThursday, 24 September 2009 13:34EDITOR - The
heartless and fraudulent culture that has been adopted by the City of Harare
in its billing system especially regarding water is disappointing to say the
least. Residents have been receiving letters of final demand with exorbitant
figures that Harare Water is continuously failing to justify.
Residents in most low-density areas, for example Hillside, Highlands,
Belvedere and the city centre have raised concern over the inflated water
bills that they are getting. There are a lot of irregularities in the water
consumption units that are indicated on the bills. One case is of a
Belvedere resident who was overcharged for 17 months-worth of water. He only
discovered this after reading his water meter and comparing the figures with
those shown on his bill.In another case, a Highlands resident was
being charged for the same amount of water consumption units on a monthly
basis, even though water supplies were very erratic in that area. One
wonders how a resident can consume a constant amount of water on a monthly
basis even when water supplies are not constant.Most residents who
live in the Avenues area blocks of flats have complained that they are
getting water bills that range between US$2000 and US$10,000!
Commercial consumers' bills are no less than US$500 on a monthly
basis.Residents in areas that have gone for years without water
(Mandara, Glen Lorne, Greystone Park and Masasa, for example) are also
getting monthly water bills ranging between US$100 AND $300 and the
purported water consumption units are actually indicated on the
bills!As if that is not enough, Harare Water is threatening to
disconnect water for default of payment even to those residents who have
gone without water!It defies logic to note that Harare Water is
demanding money from residents who have not been getting any drop of water
for years now.Furthermore, the water department has turned a deaf ear
to the residents' complaints. Harare Water should be reminded that residents
will not sit back and watch while they are being robbed of their hard-earned
money and exposed to another cholera outbreak at the same time.
Water is a basic human right and residents should get constant supplies at
all times. There should be no payment for non-existent services!LOREEN
MUPASIRI, by email

Zanu must be wary of mercenary Moyo
EDITOR - Jonathan Moyo's effort to win back his place in the evil party,
Zanu (PF), by peddling falsehoods that officers in the prime minister's
office are being paid salaries by foreign governments seems to have left him
with egg on his face, after the World Bank explained contracts that have
been issued to some personnel working in the prime minister's
office.As explained by the World Bank, there is a facility available
to all government ministries, irrespective of whether the ministry is
controlled by Zanu (PF), the MDC or independent, to request for payment of
salaries for short-term contract workers working on important national
projects.One is tempted to conclude that there is nothing progressive
taking place in Zanu (PF)-managed ministries. It could, instead, be the case
that there is nothing developmental taking place in Zanu (PF)-controlled
ministries, but that the ministers are spending all their time plotting
against progressive elements in government.Once the World Bank
sponsors an activity, they would need detailed reports on what has been
taking place to assess progress. Our comrades in Zanu (PF) would rather do
without assistance than expose the skeletons in their cupboards.
Jonathan Moyo's behaviour serves as a warning to all progressive forces that
the devil is working overtime, and we should never be caught with our pants
down. The good news is that the devil is finding it tough as he is now
running out of ideas.As long as the Zanu (PF)-controlled Public
Service Commission refuses to formalise the employment of officers working
for the prime minister's office, or any other government ministry for that
matter, the affected national projects should be able to source donor
funding from any donor agent legally operating in Zimbabwe for the salaries
of short-term consultants to ensure that the projects in question are not
adversely affected by Zanu (PF) sabotage through the Public Service
Commission.And as for Zanu (PF), they should be wary of this
mercenary, whose contribution can make them worse off than they currently
are. He is only trying to come back for the money.ANON, by
email

City council is letting us downEDITOR - It is with
great concern that I respond to the issue pertaining to the city of Harare
being sued by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) over their
continuous failure to collect refuse in the city suburbs.The city
council was fined US$3,800 after having been warned by the agency to collect
the refuse in June 2009. Needless to say, the money that will go to pay for
this fine will be from the ratepayer. This is the same ratepayer who has to
pay an exorbitant rates bill, and who has to painfully watch as what he has
paid for is not delivered.It is disheartening to note that the city
council has to wait until it is sued to actually execute its mandate.
Council has made collection of refuse to appear to be some sort of privilege
for residents, yet it is a service that residents are paying for. As long as
council demands payment of rates the collection of refuse should be
mandatory.It is about time that something be done for council to begin
to realise that we the residents can no longer go on being robbed in broad
daylight by men and women that call themselves the city fathers and yet
openly prioritise the purchasing of luxury cars before conducting their
duties.It pains me that these men and women can go and sleep well
at night while we the residents suffer the agony of watching our loved ones
die of cholera simply because we lack men and women in leadership position
with integrity and a heart for the people.For the city council to
not even realise the efforts that the residents are putting in by initiating
clean-up campaigns is discouraging and, to add insult to injury, they
continue serving us with letters of final warning with rate bills that are
beyond most of our incomes.The council should be reminded that
residents have been patient for long enough and, if they continue to take us
for granted, we will be forced to take action.ANON, by email

Zuma:
Sanctions have not worked

SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma says his country's diplomacy in
Zimbabwe has had more success than the sanctions-driven response by western
countries to alleged human rights abuses by President Robert Mugabe's
government.

Zuma also rejected suggestions by CNN's Christiane Amanpour
that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) "has failed to
criticise, condemn and insist that President Mugabe imposes and implements
the power-sharing agreement" with his opposition rivals.

"What are
you all afraid of? Are you still afraid of really trying to implement the
law in Zimbabwe?," Amanpour quizzed Zuma in an interview broadcast on Friday
night.

Zuma shot back: "No, we're never afraid. We're never
afraid."The South African President said his country had been pressured by
western countries to "have nothing to do with Zimbabwe", but his country had
deliberately chosen engagement with the Zimbabwe parties.

"It has
succeeded. The reason that you can talk about the agreement in Zimbabwe
today is because of what we negotiated," Zuma said. "I think we should
accept the fact that, at the beginning of the problem in Zimbabwe, countries
and perhaps organisations took different positions.

"Our position was not
to stand up and criticise Zimbabwe. It was to engage the Zimbabweans. We
engaged.

"You have sanctions. You can't tell me, 'This is what the
sanctions did, and this was the results of the sanctions.'

". they
(western countries) were saying have nothing do with Zimbabwe. Our having
something to do with Zimbabwe has produced an agreement, which we are now
implementing, and we are saying, 'Give that process an opportunity.' That is
why we are saying to those who have applied sanctions, 'Lift the sanctions
so that Zimbabwe has a free range to implement the decision that it has
taken.'"

The power-sharing government was formed in February after
disputed elections last year, but the pact between Mugabe and rivals Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has
been beset with problems as the parties accuse each other of failing to
fully implement the deal.

Poor governance & rampant corruption and not ''illegal'' sanctions are
the main cause of Zimbabwe's economic decay

Denialism is always a
convenient tool for most if not all dictatorships throughout the history of
mankind.Even if Adolf Hitler was alive today,he will vehemently deny that
his expansionist and fascist policies in Europe were a direct cause of the
Second World War.If Idi Amin was alive today,he will give you a wide grin
and declare that he is the best thing to ever happen to Uganda.Students of
history and political science are quite accustomed to the denialist
tendencies of all dictatorships and thus; they are not at all surprised when
ZANU-PF religiously blames Zimbabwe's economic stagnation and general
socio-political trepidation on so-called ''illegal'' sanctions imposed on
the country by Britain and her western allies.ZANU-PF zealots and
propagandists will not tell you about the autocratic and klepocratic style
of governance that their party has perfected over the years.They will be
conveniently silent about the complete disaster that has been the hallmark
of their brand of land '' reform''.In equal measure,they will not explain to
you why the so-called Look East policy has been such an unmitigated
disaster.Talk about ''regime change'' and these same ZANU-PF apologists and
sycophants will go into a trance and shout their voices hoarse; declaring
that they are a '' revolutionary'' party that should rule Zimbabwe until thy
Kingdom come! But what they will not tell you is why their '' friends'' in
the East never seem to take them seriously. They will also not tell you
what they mean,exactly, by the term '' regime change''. Regime change is a
perfectly lawful,legitimate and democratic aspiration of any mass political
party in any country.Political parties basically compete for political power
and thus; there is absolutely nothing wrong for any political party in
Zimbabwe or anywhere else for that matter,to seek to form the next
government through peacefull,lawfull,democratic and constitutional means.
If a political party doesnot aspire for regime change then it is not a
serious and ambitious political organisation.Put simply,therefore,there is
nothing criminal and/or treasonous for a political party to seek to change
the incumbent government through democratic and constitutional means.That is
regime change.

In recent weeks, the issue of sanctions has been very
topical again.Infact,this particular issue is literally threatening to tear
the inclusive government into pieces.We have heard ZANU-PF vehemently
declaring that, as a political party,they have since fully complied with all
their obligations in terms of the global political agreement that was
solemnised on September 15,2008 in Harare.This political party
is,instead,blaming the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for
failing to play ball by not calling for the lifting of so-called illegal
sanctions imposed on the country by Britain,the US and their allies.In my
humble opinion,this is what I call errant nonsense.I have repeatedly argued
that Morgan Tsvangirai does not run Britain; neither does he run the United
States nor Australia.For any sane person to, therefore, expect Morgan
Tsvangirai to instruct these countries to lift the restrictive personal
measures that they imposed on certain ZANU-PF personalities simply boggles
the mind.If some people opt to conduct their political affairs like warlords
and die-hard fascists then who is Tsvangirai to help these kind of people to
have their cake and eat it? If the same group of people seeks to derail the
democratisation process by deliberately delaying the constitution-making
process,then why should they demand to be treated as royalty when their very
actions are the exact antithesis of the democratisation agenda? If it takes
more than two months to consider the names of individuals selected to sit on
the Zimbabwe Media Commission before setting up the said Commission,then
who,exactly, has imposed sanctions on the innocent and suffering people of
Zimbabwe?

So much has also been said and written about the Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic Recovery Act ( ZIDERA) that was passed by the US
Congress in December 2001.What surprises some of us is that no attempt has
ever been made by the ZANU-PF propagandists to clarify,chapter and verse,how
exactly ZIDERA has caused Zimbabwe's economy to collapse and its agriculture
industry to plumet to such humi\liating levels where we have to import
400 000 tonnes of maize this season from a tiny country called Malawi.With
or without ZIDERA these propagandists should be told that Zimbabwe has
accumulated more than US$5 billion in both domestic and foreign debt.They
should also be advised that Zimbabwe's voting rights in the IMF were
suspended because of her failure to service her debt and clear her
arrears.And how does ZIDERA impact on Zimbabwe's failure to service her
indebtness? How did this indebtedness arise in the first place? Where is the
money? Who used it and for what purpose(s)? When Zimbabwe chose to waste
her hard-earned financial and material resources in the DRC during the
so-called Operation Sovereign Legitimacy,how did ZIDERA influence this
absurd military escapade? Furthermore,what tangible benefits,if any, did
Zimbabwe derive from her military adventurism in the Congo? It is misguided
military adventurism such as the Congo operation and not the so-called ''
illegal'' sanctions, that accelerated Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.We have
heard that a certain man who heads the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe boasts of
being a '' sanctions'' buster.Really; if this gentleman has managed to be a
successfull sanctions buster why is that the Zimbabwe economy literally
imploded during his tenure at the Reserve Bank? There are surely more
questions than answers.

ZANU-PF's stubborn refusal to agree to the
swearing in of Roy Bennett as a deputy minister is hardly anything to
surprise anyone who has studied the modus operandi of this
party.Similarly,the refusal to share the gubernatorial posts is typical of
this party; always indicating left and then suddenly turning right.The real
reason why ZANU-PF is unreasonably refusing to fully consummate the GPA is
mainly because they realise that the MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, is
becoming so immensely popular each and every day that ZANU-PF has got a
snowball's chance in hell of ever winning a free and fair election in
Zimbabwe.The reluctance by ZANU-PF to fully consumate this clearly loveless
and almost forced marriage is informed by the desire for
self-preservation.ZANU-PF is properly advised that their continued stay
in power can only be sustained by holding back the train of
democratisation.But then they have to learn from the lessons of
history.Surely,the former ruling party can fool some of the people some of
the time but they will never manage to fool all the people all of the
time.The day of reckoning is nigh.

For as long as the GPA is not
fully consumated ZANU-PF can be assured that the rest of the world will
always view the new political dispensation with extreme caution and
circumspection.Surely,if a die-hard hardcore and violent criminal tells you
that he is fully rehabilitated it would be folly to take his word on the
face of it.You will have to wait and observe that the hardcore criminal has
genuinely reformed and that he has abandoned his nefarious ways.To
date,ZANU-PF has hardly managed to convince the doubting world that it has
become a rehabilitated political party that can be trusted with pursuing a
democratisation agenda; in keeping with the letter and spirit of the GPA. No
matter how much they will talk about the so-called '' illegal'' sanctions,if
they fail to honestly and in utmost good faith,fully consumate the GPA, then
the status quo shall prevail.Those characters who are prohibited from
travelling to New York,London,Paris,Sydney and some other western cities
will only see those cities on television and /or in their dreams.This is the
cold hard fact that they should learn to live with.Indeed,poor governance
and rampant corruption and not the so-called '' illegal'' sanctions are the
main and direct cause of Zimbabwe's economic malaise and a generalised
democratic deficit.

Shoprite is
pressing ahead with talks for a R166-million purchase of Zimbabwe's largest
food retailer, OK Bazaars, despite fears about the nationalisation of one of
the country's oldest companies, Kingdom Meikles Africa
(KMAL).

The KMAL saga shows that despite a 280% rise in the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) this year, the risk of government
expropriating assets remains high. It also casts doubt on President Robert
Mugabe's claims at last week's Harare mining indaba that "property rights
are sacrosanct".

However, Shoprite chairman Christo Wiese told
Business Times this week that while the KMAL case "does make investors wary,
we've never had any threats ourselves". Wiese also chairs Pepkor, which has
an established Zimbabwean business.

"We're like good Africans:
we're confident a solution will be found, and we believe the whole of
southern Africa will enter a new era over the next five to 10
years."

A team of Shoprite advisors has been in Harare in recent
weeks to negotiate with OK Bazaars.

OK is valued at $45-million
(R334-million) on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange according to Harare-based
Renaissance Capital. Shoprite would need to pay R167-million (plus a small
sweetener) for control. On Friday, OK renewed its warning to investors that
it was still in "negotiations" with an unnamed party.

Wiese
said he "cannot comment" on the OK negotiations.

Shoprite operates
in 16 countries, including a small operation in Bulawayo. Any purchase of OK
would throw it into competition with South African rival Pick n Pay, which
has a 25% stake in TM Supermarkets - which, ironically, is controlled by
KMAL.

This week, the drama around KMAL, suspended from the ZSE last
Tuesday, took a new turn.

KMAL was formed by the 2007 merger of
the 117-year old Meikles group with Kingdom Financial Holdings. Its assets
include the Meikles Hotel and the Greatermans stores. But it has been
crippled by a wrangle between CEO Nigel Chanakira and John Moxon, whose
family owns 43% of KMAL.

In January, Chanakira - who is close to
the ruling Zanu(PF) and a former executive of the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank -
convinced government to "specify" Moxon's family. This effectively puts
Moxon's assets under the control of two government-appointed
inspectors.

Chanakira argued that Moxon illegally "externalised
foreign currency" of à10.3-million. However, Moxon has letters from
Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank in 2002 authorising the transfer of cash to South
Africa.

Tensions mounted last week as Mugabe's government widened
the "specification" of KMAL, putting most of its assets under the control of
government inspectors. Rattled investors read this as the first steps
towards outright nationalisation of KMAL.

On Thursday, angry
KMAL investors were due to hold an "extraordinary meeting of shareholders"
to vote on whether to boot out Chanakira and other directors.

But when shareholders arrived at the conference centre at Harare's Meikles
Hotel for the meeting, they were barred from entering by Zimbabwe's police
and Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organisation, who claimed the meeting had
been postponed.

"This meeting has been postponed for two weeks, but
it seems Chanakira wants to delay this as long as possible," said Moxon.
"This debacle shows that property rights aren't respected in Zimbabwe, which
will make it hard for it to attract foreign investment."

In
legal papers lodged in SA in a separate case, Moxon claims his
''specification" is a case of Chanakira "abusing Zimbabwe's state machinery
to bring police (and) other authorities" down on him to resolve a corporate
spat.

Chanakira is apparently ill, and Business Times was told
that he was "not available to talk".

Moxon now lives in SA
after fleeing Zimbabwe last year when warned he was to be
arrested.

KMAL's value on the ZSE plummeted from $500-million in
2008 to $90-million when it was suspended last week. Moxon's share is
worthless until the "specification" order is lifted.

"All our
wealth is tied up in the company, so we don't have a choice but to fight to
the end," he said.

Gilbert Muponda, the former head of Zimbabwe's
Century Holdings, who was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act,
said the tactic of "specifying" assets is meant to "criminalise and
scandalise entrepreneurs whose political views are perceived to be at
variance with their own".

In an advert in Zimbabwe's Telegraph
newspaper, Muponda said politicians do this to ''embark on unjust
self-enrichment by misappropriating businesses using draconian
legislation".

He said his own business was effectively expropriated
by a front company for reserve bank governor Gideon Gono, called Network
Investments.

Concerns over KMAL could act as a brake on the
recovery of the ZSE, which re-opened in February this year when the US
dollar was chosen as the currency of choice.

Since then, the
ZSE has surged from $1-billion to about $3.8-billion, Renaissance Capital
believes the exchange could hit the $5-billion mark before the year is out.
By contrast, SA's JSE exchange has gained 16% this year.

ZSE
CEO Edward Munyukwi said the recovery is due to foreigners buying shares
from Zimbabweans. Until the US dollar was introduced in February,
Zimbabweans put cash into the ZSE as the only way to "retain the value" of
their Zimbabwean dollars.

"There has been a lot of interest
this year from European, US and South African investors," he
said

Dzika Danha, analyst at Renaissance Capital, said the value of
the exchange could hit $7.4-billion within two years, "provided there are no
economic policy inconsistencies that emerge from government".

Rautenbach
free to live south of Limpopo

The past few days have been good for Zimbabwe's rich and
controversial businessman Billy Rautenbach.

He is spending his 50th
birthday at his hunting camp on the lower Zambezi this weekend after paying
a R40 million admission of guilt fine for fraud in South Africa and is now
free, after 10 years, to resume his life south of the Limpopo.

The
fine was petty cash considering that in the same week he made about R730m
for his share in a British company listed on London's alternative markets.
Whether he will get the money or it will be frozen - as he is on the EU and
US sanctions list - is not clear.

Allegations against Rautenbach in South
Africa 10 years ago were that his company, SA Botswana Hauliers, operating
out of Botswana and assembling Hyundai vehicles, had massively fiddled
customs duties and the SA Revenue Service.

Shortly before he fled to
Zimbabwe Rautenbach's company was put into liquidation.

Protected by
political allies in Zimbabwe from extradition to face trial in South Africa,
the complex case against Rautenbach's company became stale and insiders said
eventually it was a headache for the National Prosecuting Authority - easier
to settle than process through court.

The source of Rautenbach's wealth
is well documented with its origins in the extraordinary assets he was
given, firstly from the spoils of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), and secondly by President Robert Mugabe's henchmen in
Zanu-PF.

He used the gifts well, if ruthlessly, and worked hard,
developing good contacts among officials in both the DRC and
Zimbabwe.

He is not a miner, and the DRC and Zimbabwe are wild countries
where a bribe to mining officials to circumvent problems happens all the
time, according to industry insiders.

Rautenbach is lean, of medium
height, with a mane of grey hair and a stable family life and he has
successfully avoided press photographers so the last available images of him
go back 10 years to just before he fled to Zimbabwe.

After escaping ahead
of charges in South Africa, Rautenbach was recommended by Zanu-PF to head up
the DRC's enormous, bankrupt, disintegrated state mining company, Gecamines,
after Mugabe had stepped in with his army to save his ally, Laurent Kabila,
in the civil war that had sucked in five neighbouring
countries.

Gecamines was more than just a massive conglomerate with
extraordinary mineral assets, it was a source of survival for generations of
the labour force, which depended on the company from birth to death,
regardless of production and plunder by Mobuto Sese Seko, the president of
the DRC, then known as Zaire.

Gecamines was a shadow of what it had
been when the Belgians fled 40 years or so earlier.

Rautenbach, by
all accounts, slashed overheads, boosted production of cobalt in particular,
established some financial sense in the mining empire but offended the
unionised workforce.

Kabila, in fragile control of the DRC after the
country's years in the wilderness, accused Rautenbach of cheating Gecamines
of cobalt revenues and expelled him from the country. He took back the gifts
of mining assets of the three rich sites he had been given, including the
famous Mukondo cobalt mountain in Katanga province, which Rautenbach was
mining.

Expelled from the DRC Rautenbach fled to Zimbabwe again and took
the DRC to court for the return of the assets he had been given.

In
2004, and with Kabila dead, half of the assets were returned after powerful
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who leads a faction in Zanu- PF, and is determined to
succeed Mugabe, intervened.

Rautenbach returned to Katanga, and sold a
substantial part of his mining and transport companies to the Central
African Mining and Exploration Company (Camec), led by British cricketer
Phil Edmonds and British chief executive Andrew Groves. It was not a happy
company.

South African engineers were hauled off to a kangaroo court
Groves set up to allegedly deprive them of share options in the company.
Another in the South African team employed by Camec had to flee the country
ahead of DRC intelligence agents allegedly put on him by
Groves.

Camec's name was dirt, as dirty at least as some of the
Congolese officials demanding bribes.

Camec did, however, mine and
set up plants in the DRC and, after Rautenbach was expelled again, after an
application for his extradition to South Africa was lodged in Zimbabwe, he
ran much of it long distance from Harare.

In Zimbabwe, Rautenbach was
busy. With his influence, Camec was handed two platinum sites, and paid
$100m (R745.3m) into Zanu-PF for assets that would take more than Camec's
resources or skills base to develop.

Rautenbach formed a new company,
Cutstar, and he is now in effect in control of the largest chunk of rural
land in Zimbabwe, when most of the remaining few hundred white farmers are
under constant harassment.

Rautenbach says he is going to grow sugar and
produce biofuels. That development has hardly begun and the sugar industry
says he does not have access to enough water to grow more than a token
amount.

Right now, he is stocking the land he was given with buffaloes
secured from the Hwange National Park. The buffaloes will endanger the
remaining large cattle in the area but will make the land more attractive
for sale as a tourist asset.

Many white businessmen have had a hard
time in Zimbabwe in the last 10 years.

Most, especially in the retail
trade, say that they lost 95 percent of their asset base when Zanu-PF
slashed prices two years ago and Zanu-PF insiders, and others, walked into
the shops and looted them.

Others were locked up on the orders of central
bank governor Gideon Gono for using scarce foreign currency to import goods
to keep their businesses going.

Serious mining executives had to go
into hiding to avoid arrest.

While farmers have been harassed and beaten,
Rautenbach's family beef farm, 200km north of Harare, has remained
untouched.

It seems that he was, and is, a law unto himself in Zimbabwe,
and it is believed that most of his external assets are hidden offshore, in
the Virgin Islands for example.

Some say that he would like to get
out of the clutches of Zanu-PF and, now that he can, move to South Africa.
He has assets here, secured during his company's dubious Hyundai
days.

Should he leave Zimbabwe, and and cut his ties with his benefactors
in Harare, many in the battered business community would feel a sense of
relief.

A few months ago he was telling Western diplomats and anyone
prepared to listen that he had made progress in putting his case to Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the
senior partner in a difficult unity government where Mugabe blocks every
possible positive development.

At the top of the MDC, however,
indications are that he has made no progress whatsoever. He is seen as a
stooge of Zanu-PF, which has destroyed the economy.

EU and US
sanctions against Rautenbach are not going to be lifted easily. He has few
friends in any sector in Zimbabwe, many have been angered by his short
temper and the selective justice he appears to enjoy and, on a more mundane
level, some of his suppliers wonder why he takes so long to settle bills in
what is a cash economy.

"It's always been my goal to return to South
Africa to pursue potential business opportunities once my name was cleared,"
said Rautenbach in a press release released by his public relations
executives last week.

"It's been a frustrating time of exile for me
having to watch the evolution of business in South Africa and being unable
to make my contribution."

Clearing his name, however, among those bruised
by his favoured status, may take a bit longer.

"Billy Rautenbach's
fortunes stem from gifts from political leaders, nothing else," a former
associate from Katanga said on Friday.

Signs of life
stir Zimbabwe's stock market

Zimbabwe's moribund economy is slowly stirring, with
signs of life in once-shuttered businesses helping to revive a stock market
that was closed amid scandal last year, analysts said.

Hammered by
world-record hyperinflation, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was shut down last
November as the central bank sought to curb traders using dud cheques as
well as activities of market speculators.

Trading resumed in February,
after the local currency was abandoned and a unity government was formed
between President Robert Mugabe and his long-time rival, Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.

Since then the value of monthly trade is up 20-fold,
though that's coming off a base of just 2.5 million US US dollars. ZSE boss
Emmanuel Munyukwi told AFP that still shows signs of at least cautious
optimism in the country.

"This is a sign that confidence is coming
back to the bourse when compared to last year," he said.

"There has
been huge interest on our counters. Most of the buyers are foreigners
especially from South Africa and United Kingdom."

Monthly trading peaked
in June at 57 million US dollars but has since slowed. Munyukwi expects the
September figures to register around 50 million US dollars.

Without a
local currency, trading is now conducted in US US dollars, limiting currency
risks for foreign investors, Munyukwi said.

That's brought stability to a
market ravaged by inflation estimated in multiples of billions last year,
said Dzikamai Danha, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, a Russia-based
company that tracks emerging markets.

"The real reason why the economy
has stabilised and the real reason why the stock exchange has had a fine
rally... is as result of confidence in the use of the US dollar, which does
not fluctuate like the Zimbabwe dollar," Danha said.

"Last year, the
ZSE in terms of business was actually smaller to that of Botswana, Malawi
and Zambia", some of the world's smallest markets, he said.

Danha expects
ZSE market capitalisation to be 4.1 billion US dollars by year end,
representing a 138 percent increase over the quarter ending in June, but
still tiny even compared to neighbouring South Africa's
bourse.

Significant political risks remain, as Mugabe and Tsvangirai
publicly feud over key appointments, including the naming of the central
bank governor.

"Although the political noise surrounding these
disagreements has intensified in recent months, we do not believe any break
in the government is imminent," Danha said.

But Jonathan Waters,
analyst at the economic and financial data group Zfn, said that despite the
gains this year, the market remains far off its historic peaks.

The
ZSE had a market capitalisation of about nine billion US US dollars in
mid-1997, before inflation began surging.

Last year at the height of
the hyperinflation, the market was capitalised at about four billion US
dollars, against 3.5 billion US dollars last week, he said.

"So in
fact it's gone backwards," Waters said.

But as companies adjust to doing
business in a dollarised economy, some are performing surprisingly well,
while foreign investors have begun returning to Zimbabwe, he
said.

"Between 50 to 150 million US dollars has certainly come into the
country" this year from foreign investors, Waters said, adding that banks
had performed well in their first quarterly results under the new financial
regime.

"Our first dollarised results for the period to June have
just been released, and we have been surprised by the performance of the
banks," he said.

Although 79 firms are listed on the ZSE, 10 dominate
trading -- most of them local subsidiaries of banks such as Barclays and Old
Mutual, as well as local telecom Econet.

Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 26th September 2009

Dumi and Luka arrive at
the Vigil Dumi and Luka with Betty
Makoni

A triumphant cheer with exuberant
ululating greeted two members of the Vigil management team, Dumi Tutani and Luka
Phiri, when they arrived at the Vigil after completing a 55-mile sponsored walk
from Brighton on the
south coast. Despite their exhaustion, they immediately joined in the
celebratory dancing.

They had set off just before
5 am and covered the
distance (twice the length of a marathon) in thirteen and a half hours including
two short breaks.

“I really enjoyed it” said Dumi,
wearing a Vigil tshirt. “People were very supportive as we passed by”. Luka,
whose idea it was, could not suppress a huge grin.

The walk was to raise funds to
help a
Zimbabwean girl with a severe facial tumour who is coming to the
UK for urgent
medical treatment. The girl, Taremeredzwa Nomatter Mapungwana, is supported by
the Zimbabwean charity Girl Child Network (http://girlchildnetworkworldwide.org/).
Tare is to have an operation soon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in
London.

Dumi and Luka
were greeted at the Vigil by Betty Makoni, founder of Girl Child Network, who
was warm in her praise. “Because of your walk people here have now heard of our
work”.

Betty addressed
the Vigil about her experience as an activist on women’s issues. She said she
had been forced to flee Zimbabwe because of her
role in helping women victims of political violence.

She
said one woman she had helped had been traumatized by being raped by 18
soldiers. Another, who was pregnant when she was raped, had been so badly
injured that the doctor she was taken to in Botswana had cried. A
recent appeal for help had been from a woman on her deathbed as a result of
injuries sustained in June last year. She added that women that had been raped
didn’t find it easy to share their stories.

Betty said rape
had been used as a weapon of war since 2002 and women and their families were
still being harassed and intimidated. Husbands would be taunted by the
perpetrators, who believed they could act with
impunity

While Betty
spoke to the Vigil about the situation in Zimbabwe a different picture was being
painted at a conference elsewhere in London addressed by representatives of the
Zimbabwe government trying to get the diaspora to invest back home – despite the
clear absence of the rule of law displayed so eloquently by Mugabe’s xenophonic
ranting at the UN.

We
had a good attendance despite many Restoration of Human Rights supporters
attending a ROHR fundraising party in Birmingham.

·Zimbabwe Vigil –
7th Anniversary. Saturday 10th October at
6.30 pm. The Vigil started on
12th October
2002 and we are marking this anniversary
on the nearest Saturday to that date. There will be a social gathering after
the Vigil, downstairs at the Bell and Compass,
9-11 Villiers
Street, LondonWC2N
6NA, next to Charing Cross Station at
the corner of Villiers Street and
John Adam Street.

·From Liberator to
Dictator by Mike Auret. This is a personal account of the
unravelling of Zimbabwe, written by
an insider who was prepared to keep faith with Robert Mugabe until it was almost
too late. Michael Auret served for many years on Zimbabwe's respected
Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace, which worked tirelessly to defend
human rights in that country. In this memoir, he traces his involvement in the
politics of his country, from his days as an opposition MP in Ian Smith's
Rhodesia to his
involvement with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and his election as MP
for Harare Central in the brutal election of 2000. http://www.newafricabooks.co.za/books_detail.asp?ID=499.

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every
Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights
in Zimbabwe. The Vigil
which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored,
free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.

Vigil
co-ordinator

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every
Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights
in Zimbabwe. The Vigil
which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored,
free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

After decades
away, returning to Zimbabwe home

(AP) - EMBAKWE MISSION,
Zimbabwe - The imposing cross atop the brick church looms out of the bush
like a beacon. The bells sing out with impatience, urging the faithful to
hurry along, and one small bellringer is swept right off his feet.

A
peremptory roll from a handmade wooden drum topped with goat skin is
followed by a call from a cow horn.

The choir breaks into an a
capella hymn. It's a far cry from the stately Gregorian chant of my youth,
all in Latin, which I could recite from memory with no idea what it meant.
Everyone stands as a dozen altar boys, one carrying a large cross, escort
the Rev. Johannes Maseko and two seminarians up the
aisle.

It's the first time I've seen altar boys in robes of
brilliant African fabric-orange and green. Those in the congregation tap
their feet, clap their hands and sway to the music. My face is wet with
tears.

And I tear up again at the end, when the priest introduces me to
the congregation as "baby Michelle" who was born here and is coming back
after nearly five decades away.

"You have returned to your home," he
says. "We are your family. We are happy to have you with us."

On
closer inspection, many collars in the pews are frayed, jerseys darned,
Sunday-best shoes worn down at the heels. And at the offertory, only coins
are placed in the basket along with offerings of tea biscuits, a packet of
sugar, some tea leaves. These are precious commodities: Someone is doing
without to make this gift.

Embakwe Mission once was an example of
progress and success. But now it is suffering along with the rest of the
country, and in particular the province of Matabeleland-land of the Ndebele
people.

Many people here are worn down by back-to-back wars and crises
that keep this southwestern corner, on the brink of the Kalahari Desert, the
poorest in a deprived nation. I find a place where no textbooks have been
purchased in nearly a decade, where children come to school faint from
hunger, where life savings have been wiped out.

Embakwe Mission was
founded in 1902 by the spirit medium Njemhlophe, who gave up throwing the
bones after he converted to Christianity. He came at the behest of Catholic
missionaries who soon followed, a Jesuit priest on horseback and three
intrepid nuns fresh from England in an ox wagon loaded with provisions,
including a hen, a cock and a cat.

First they turned back because of a
thunderstorm with forked lightning. On the second attempt, the wagon got
bogged down in mud. So the nuns, from the Belgian-based Sisters of Notre
Dame de Namur, trudged through the sludge to their new home, a loaf of bread
under one arm and a bottle of altar wine tucked under the other.

I
think of them as I follow a rusting sign off the road onto a dirt track. I
slow to cross the dry bed of Embakwe River. Some women are digging holes in
the loose sand to collect water. A barefoot child waves
hello.

"Salibonani," I yell back out the window.

A grey
lourie responds with its fish-wifely "go-away" squawk-hunters hate it
because it warns their prey. The familiar song of cicadas hums through the
bushes and the blue, blue sky is painted with clouds drifting lazily and so
low you want to reach out and fluff them up.

"Embakwe Mission,"
announces the same old carved stone, once whitewashed but now weathered
grey. The mission's signature red-brick buildings are also weathered,
including a church, clinic, a primary day school, a high school, hostels for
boarders, a pigsty, playing fields.

Outside the mission, the air has a
homely whiff of woodfire and cattle dung. The bush is thinned out because
trees are used for fuel; the grass appears shaved from
overgrazing.

There's no running water, no electricity, no telephones. And
we're out of reach of cellular phone service unless you climb a certain tree
on the mission.

Villages are also strangely bereft of young
people.

James Mapegani Macebo Ncube, 78, taught at Embakwe for 45 years.
His elder son went to neighboring South Africa and has not been heard from
in 15 years. But his younger son graduated from Embakwe two years ago, got a
job working with computers in South Africa and hopes to visit at
Christmas.

"Because of this government, I cannot enjoy my children around
me. They could not tolerate staying, like all the young people: There are no
jobs, nothing for them."

Macebo is caring for a 13-year-old orphan,
the son of his wife's sister, who died in 2004 followed by her husband in
2006, presumably of AIDS.

Like all aging Zimbabweans, his pension was
wiped out by dizzying inflation as the government recklessly printed money
to mask the collapse of the economy. Zimbabwe's dollar was on a par with the
U.S. dollar at independence in 1980. The goverment abandoned the local
currency in January, shortly after printing a 100 trillion-dollar
note.

In their old age, Macebo and his wife, Lilliam, are forced
to survive off the land, much as the missionaries found their
great-grandparents. They have two cows, a handful of goats and some
chickens, and they grow corn, sorghum, millet and a variety of other
crops.

They live in a brick home topped by a grass thatched roof. If they
need the toilet at night, they walk outside to a small brick building.
Bedtime is when it gets dark, because there is no money to buy paraffin for
the lamp gathering dust in a corner.

If there's a medical emergency,
Macebo is lucky. He has two donkeys and a scotch cart that could carry them
to the mission clinic.

___

The clinic is surprisingly
well-equipped and squeaky clean. On this day it's filled with the cries of
children getting vaccinated. Nurse Barbara Moyo says the drugs come from a
European doctor who works at a nearby mission and gets donations from
Germany.

When AIDS antiretrovirals are handed out, scores of people line
up, winding their way around the clinic. Moyo says as much as 75 percent of
the working population is infected with AIDS-those aged from about 20 to
49.

That astonishing figure-five times the national average-she
attributes to migration for work, including prostitution, and the booming
cross-border trade with nearby Botswana. Men get infected there and bring
the disease home to their wives.

The mission's schools also reflect
crisis. Halfway through the term, the primary school has only one box of
chalk and no money.

Frederick Chikwane, a Cuban-trained chemist who is
headmaster of the high school, says parents would not agree to pay more than
$250 for a 13-week term for a boarder.

His student body has shrunk
from about 700 to 420 this year, with some parents putting students into
cheaper day schools, some sending their children to South Africa. Less than
two-thirds of school fees have been paid. In June, Chikwane was forced to
send home some students whose parents had not paid.

"Some of
our students are dropping their schooling altogether, going to Botswana or
South Africa to do manual labor, or just turning delinquent," Chikwane says.
"It's a sad story."

Worse off is the primary school. Deputy headmaster
Mongameli Phakathi says he cannot even look at the account books without
getting a headache. The government announced this year that children in
rural areas must not pay school fees.

Children come to school too
weak to play sports. Some come only for the mid-morning bowl of
high-nutrition porridge provided by a Catholic charity. "For some, that's
the only food they are getting," Phakathi says.

Still, Chikwane says,
things are better since the government abandoned the Zimbabwe
dollar.

"Costs rose so much, there was no money to buy food and, even if
you had the money, you couldn't get it from the bank," Chikwane says. "We
had to ask the parents to pay school fees in groceries."

Most people
in rural areas, with no access to any kind of currency, have turned to
primitive barter. A friend told me about an elderly woman who offered a bus
driver at Lion's Den her live, trussed-up chicken for a four-hour ride. The
driver agreed, but passengers argued the woman was owed change-at least
three eggs.

In the dining hall at Embakwe, boys and young men gather for
dinner. They're hungry and there's some pushing. Each holds an enamel plate
onto which one server ladles sadza, the stiff maize meal porridge that is a
staple, another some grey, watery cabbage.

Sister Mary Anthony
Madanga, who runs the kitchen, complains the boys are not getting a balanced
diet: They have had greens only three times in six months, there is no
fruit, meat is served three times a week if a cow is slaughtered. Most days
it's a soup of whatever vegetables are available, often the cabbage, which
"the boys hate."

I remember Embakwe as a land of plenty, providing for
more than 1,000 students, missionaries and lay teachers. The mission became
near self-sufficient after 1953, when the biggest private dam in the country
was built. Canals channeled water to a vegetable farm and orchard. Wildlife
was plentiful and we ate so much venison I can't stomach it
today.

But now most mission fields are overgrown by knee-high
grass. There is bush where I remember hundreds of orange, nectarine and
banana trees.

Maseko, the youthful mission director at 29 years old, says
he hired an experienced farm manager in 2006. But the crops failed, tomatoes
rotted in the fields, a lot of money was lost.

There apparently was
corruption, greed and mismanagement-the same evils that have helped destroy
the entire country. The headmaster was fired for theft and took off with one
of the two tractors.

Maseko turned to the sole remaining white farmer in
the area, who now uses part of the mission land and provides the school with
some vegetables. The fields are constantly pillaged. A few days before my
visit, thieves were caught with more than 200 pounds of
tomatoes.

Much of the countryside looks like the road from Bulawayo to
Embakwe-mile after mile of destroyed farm fences and land left
fallow.

Land was once the bedrock of my country. Some 5,000 white farmers
owned two-thirds of Zimbabwe's richest land at independence, employed the
largest workforce and produced enough food to feed the country and export.
Zimbabwean beef was famous, its steak considered on a par with
Argentina's.

But millions of black peasant farmers were crowded onto
overworked marginal land. So Britain, the former colonial ruler, funded a
land resettlement program at independence and made annual payments for
President Robert Mugabe's government to buy white farms. It only stopped in
1997 when it became clear that the land was being given to Mugabe's generals
and cronies.

After Mugabe lost a referendum to entrench his powers, he
ordered violent seizures of commercial farms in 2000, accusing the farmers
of ordering their black workers to vote against him. Banks suffered since
many of their assets were in farm mortgages. The land itself became
worthless.

___

In the years after 1980, thousands of schools,
clinics, dams and roads were built. But not in Matabeleland, where the
minority Ndebele people had voted overwhelmingly for Joshua Nkomo's party,
not the winning party dominated by Mugabe's Shona people.

A
handful of Nkomo's guerrillas attacked white farmers and killed some white
tourists near the Victoria Falls. This led to a full-fledged battle in
Bulawayo, the Matabeleland capital a two-hour drive from
Embakwe.

Mugabe got North Korean instructors to "train" the Fifth
Brigade, which swept through the province like its nickname
"Gukurahundi"-Shona for "the first rains that wash away the
chaff."

Under Perence Shiri, now commander of the Zimbabwe Air Force,
those troops attacked and killed up to 40,000 civilians in a five-year purge
that some human rights activists liken to genocide. Some were buried in mass
graves. Others were thrown down mine shafts. Limestone was thrown on some
bodies to disintegrate the bones.

Entire sections of Matabeleland
were blocked from access to medicine and food during a drought.

With
some 3 million people facing death by starvation, a defeated Nkomo signed a
unity accord with Mugabe in 1987, effectively making Zimbabwe a one-party
state.

Many wonder if the same fate does not await the latest unity
government-formed in February between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, the man many believe won elections last year.

People
still talk about "Gukurahundi" in whispers. Some watched siblings, sons and
daughters tortured and gunned down. Others were forced to dig their own
graves before being shot or bayonetted. Entire families were locked into
their thatch-roofed huts and burned to death.

Mugabe-who once taught
at a mission neighboring Embakwe in the 1940s-denied anything was
happening.

Local and international human rights groups say Mugabe and
Shiri should be tried at the International Court of Justice for crimes
against humanity. Some say fear of prosecution is the main reason Mugabe and
his cabal cling to power.

___

At a village near
Embakwe, Mtabisi George Ndlovu wonders why he ever bothered to fight for
independence.

"Look at us," he orders, pointing to a wife with one baby
in her lap and two others hiding in her skirts while other children chase
fowls around the dusty compound.

In her pantry are a couple handfuls
of dried beans and a cupful of cornmeal-not enough to feed the family. How
many children do you have? I ask Ndlovu. For an answer, he turns to his
wife, who says there are seven.

Ndlovu gets a war veteran's pension of
$40 a month, but it costs him nearly $10 to travel to Bulawayo for the
money.

"We eat poorly, once a day," he complains. "When we were in the
struggle, they promised us land, good houses with water and electricity,
free education for our children, free health care. What did I get?
Nothing."

As I drive away from the mission, I'm filled with a sense of
trepidation.

I stop at the untended cemetery where thigh-high grass
prevents me finding the grave of that first Catholic convert, Njemhlophe. In
a cleared patch, mounds of three new graves are a reminder of the high death
rate in a country devastated by AIDS and the diseases of
poverty.

These days the graveyard is so full that people must be laid to
rest elsewhere.

AP correspondent Michelle Faul returns to her home in
Zimbabwe, where she was born and grew up, after being away for nearly five
decades.

Book Review: Wild Honey by
Bookey Peek

"Stone Hills often feels like an island perched on
the tip of a powerful and malevolent volcano - sometimes it roars and rattles
the windows of the house. But nothing disturbs the peace of the everlasting
hills; for like the summer storms that sweep across their heads year after year,
this too must pass. Our lives may change tomorrow, but until they do, Rich will
keep filming and taking his magnificent photographs and I’ll keep writing about
Stone Hills, trying to fix this precious place in my mind, so I can remember all
of it when one day we are no longer here. " (An excerpt from Wild Honey by
Bookey Peek)

It

is
hard to describe Bookey Peek’s latest book, ‘Wild Honey’. As the
old cliché goes, it makes you laugh and it makes you cry - and it helps you
understand the crazy contradiction that is at the heart of living in Africa.

At Stone Hills,
the Peek’s family home and animal sanctuary, there is not only the opportunity
to live in paradise and share in the rehabilitation of beautiful wild creatures
like the honey badger for which this book is written, but the chance to actually
live the Zimbabwean tragedy.

At first sight,
Wild Honey is simply about the rehabilitation of a honey badger that
unexpectedly became part of the Peek’s menagerie. However, you are almost half
way into the book before you even meet what is apparently one of the most feared
and misunderstood inhabitants of the African bush.Instead, Wild
Honey is an unforgettable look into the wonderland of Stone Hills plus a sequel
to All The Way Home, Bookey’s initial collection of African wildlife stories
that started with the rescue of Poombi, the crazy warthog piglet, in
1996.

The two books are
now being sold as a pair by Penguin and the film version of Badge’s
rehabilitation - Honey Badger: Raising Hell - is being marketed by National
Geographic.

But back to the
beginning. The Peek’s are a fascinating couple. Richard, Bookey’s husband, is a
zoologist and ecologist who spent 14 years with the Department of National Parks
and Wildlife as well as an award winning photographer and safari guide. Bookey
gave up her international travels and career in law for life in the bush and has
gleaned her share of writing awards along the way.

Together, they
ventured into the hospitality industry and created a wildlife sanctuary among
Zimbabwe’s ancient Matobo Hills where they are raising their son David and
family of wild creatures.

As Bookey
explains, she has always loved writing and moving to Stone Hills was a God-given
opportunity to combine her two passions - writing and the bushveld. From the
outset, she kept a diary which is now 800 pages long and an invaluable
collection of material. She had written for magazines and always wanted to write
a book - but it took the amazing experience of being introduced to Poombi’s
first two piglets that turned this into a reality.

“Once I
started, nothing could stop me,” she says of a first draft that took
almost a year and a half to write in between the demands of life at Stone Hills.
Then she simply put it away without intending to publish it.

Having run the
gambit of retrieving her book, finding agents and publishers, she says the
sequel was almost inevitable. “Badge came into our lives and he just had to
be written about,” she explains, adding that the third book, of which she
has already written four chapters, will continue Badge’s adventures back into
the wild.

Central to the
whole Badge experience is the fact that people (from locals to wildlife experts
and even scientists) reacted to the prospect of rescuing a honey badger with
horror. Most viewed them as aggressive, unpleasant creatures that could never be
tamed. The reality is that the Peeks had no intention of making Badge a pet but
of returning him to the wild.

Along the way, she
says, they found many people “in the woodwork” who had raised honey badgers.
Every story was the same - these animals were adored simply because of their
charisma and sense of humour.

Bookey says she
has realised that people are fascinated by the relationship between wild animals
and people and the notion that each one (including the small animals that are so
often overlooked) has a unique character of his own. “We’re lucky because we
have a perfect situation. We can discover the essence of an animal through a
close relationship in a way that you can’t do by watching them at arm’s
length.”

However, the most
important thing of all is that these stories are far more than Gerald Durrell in
Africa. The spectre of Robert Mugabe and his war veterans puts
paid to any notion of an African happily ever after. Perhaps the most memorable
part of the book is the family’s heart-breaking decision to evacuate their farm
after gut-wrenching months of waiting for farm invaders to appear at their gate
- and their inability to stay away.

Bookey describes
the situation in Zimbabwe as “imponderable” and adds that it is simply a
question of luck when it comes to having or not having your farm taken over by
war veterans. “Our little corner of the world has been affected, but not to
the same extent as others,” she says, adding that there will always be a
question mark over their future in Zimbabwe.

“We live from
day to day with the intention of staying forever. We’re really living a
privileged life,”
she muses.

According to
Bookey, although there have been political changes, nothing has yet happened
that will make a real difference to the future of Zimbabwe’s wildlife. Tourism
has all but died and there is now little income that could be used to look after
precious resources. Nevertheless there are many who are doing wonderful things
to help preserve nature and to educate future generations.

For them and for
Bookey, this is all for the love of wildlife and not for money. She believes
that the publication of her books will, sadly, have little effect on the ongoing
wildlife crisis in Zimbabwe. Those most likely to read them are already converts
and don’t need persuading, she points out.

“I do it
because I have to and because I love to. (The situation) can come right but
things have to change in Zimbabwe,” she concludes.

Constitution Watch 10 of 26th September 2009[Constitution-Making Process under New Management?]

CONSTITUTION
WATCH 10

[26th September
2009]

Proposed
Changes in the Constitutional
Process

PRESS RELEASE by Minister of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs on Constitution-Making Process, 18th
September

On September 10, 2009, I announced
that the three Principals to the Interparty Agreement were due to meet to
rationalise the constitution making process.

Pursuant to the announcement, the
three Principals met at Zimbabwe House yesterday September 17, 2009. In
attendance at the meeting was the Vice-President,
Honourable Mujuru, Ministers Mnangagwa, Chinamasa, Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Ncube,
Mangoma and myself (Matinenga).

The meeting defined the
Parliamentary Select Committee described in Article VI of the
Interparty Agreement as a special purpose vehicle set up to spearhead the
constitution making process. This Committee is not an ordinary
Parliamentary Select Committee.
Consequently the strict Select Committee Rules do not apply to it.

The meeting addressed issues of
efficiency, capacity and inclusivity of the Select Committee and decided
that:

1: An Independent Secretariat be
set up to provide administrative services to the Select Committee. Appropriate
office space will be provided for the Select Committee and the Administrative
Structure.

2: The current Management Committee
of the Select Committee will be configured and will now be made up of the
current three co-chairs of the Select Committee; a negotiator or a
representative of the negotiator from each of the parties to the Interparty
Agreement and the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs. This
Committee provides leadership and policy direction to the constitution making
process.

3: A Steering Committee made up of
the current three co-chairs; the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary
Affairs and the co-chairpersons of the 1st Stakeholders Conference, Drs H. Sadza
and Makhurane (these two are still to be invited to participate in this role).
The Steering Committee is responsible for managing the operations of the
constitution making process.

4: Due to the unfortunate
polarisation brought about by reference to the Kariba Draft neither party to the
Interparty Agreement should seek to promote the draft at the expense of other
constitutional material it being accepted that the draft will be open to study
and scrutiny just like any other constitutional material available.

Parliament
– An aide to the
Speaker said on Friday that Parliament had not yet been officially informed of
this development. Parliament’s Presiding Officers [Speaker and President of
Senate and their deputies] will be meeting this week to deliberate on the
consequences of the changes decided on by the principals.

Select Committee
- The chairpersons consider the
establishment of an independent Secretariat is a positive development, as the
committee will no longer have to rely on the services of the overstretched staff
and resources of Parliament. It ties in with their resolution at a meeting a
fortnight ago that a special Secretariat with an Executive Director should be
set up to back its work on the Constitution. They also hope that this new
set-up will enable funding to be secured.

ZANU-PF
- spokesman EphraimMasawi hotly challenged the clause
in Minister Matinenga’s statement on the Kariba Draft and said that in the GPA
all three parties had agreed to its use as the key reference document and it is
nonsensical for anyone to suggest that that position has been reversed. .“ZANU PF made a decision on how the
constitution-making process should proceed and as far as we are concerned
that decision has not been changed. The Kariba draft remains.” He
suggested that MDC-T’s downplaying of the Kariba draft was to appease its civic
society allies who are opposed to the document.

MDC-T
The Prime Minister’s newsletter
states “Concerned by
delays and disputes over the constitution-making process, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, has re-organised the structure of the oversight process to ensure
greater accountability and effectiveness.” It is not easy to see
how putting in Ministers as part of the oversight mechanism chimes with the
latest MDC National Council resolution that “The Party
remains firm on the need and duty for a new Constitution in Zimbabwe and
restates that the people of Zimbabwe should write a Constitution for themselves,
by themselves”.

MDC-M –
perceive the setting up of an
Independent Secretariat as a step forward. They, however, maintain their
position that the Kariba draft, having been drawn up by the key negotiators of
the parties over a considerable period of time, represents a confluence of ideas
on the Constitution between the parties, and was agreed to in the GPA as a
starting point for the process of consultation and its clauses should be put to
the people for acceptance, rejection or amendment.

NCA –
have issued a statement that
notwithstanding the purported addressing of issues by the inclusive government's
principals, the constitution making process remains under the control of
politicians. “As long as it remains under
the stewardship of three political parties with vested and often conflicting
interests, the GPA inspired constitution-making process will never be
efficient and inclusive.” They maintain that it will always be
difficult if not impossible to get a democratic and people-driven constitution
from a process that is primarily motivated by the quest to promote party
political interests.

Comment

These proposals
raise a number of concerns:

·As the
proposed Management Committee is to provide leadership and policy direction to
the constitution-making process and will include, in addition to the current
three co-chairs of the Select Committee, the chief negotiator from each of the
parties to the Interparty Agreement [MDC-T
secretary-general, Tendai Biti,
Patrick Chinamasa from ZANU PF and Professor Welshman Ncube from MDC-M]
there is a realistic
fear that that this Committee will opt for the Kariba draft notwithstanding
Minister Matinenga’s assurances to the contrary. The Kariba draft was the
brainchild of these negotiators, and at least two of them have been adamant that
it should be the document on which public consultation is based.

·As the
Parliamentary Select Committee would come under a Management Committee including
the negotiators, who are all three key Ministers and in close touch with the
party principals, this may lead to new conflicts – arising from Parliament
feeling its brief of driving the process is being interfered with by the
Executive arm of Government.

·The legal
basis of the statement that the Select Committee on the Constitution is not
bound by strict Parliamentary rules applicable to select committees is not clear
– Parliament could raise objections to one of its committees coming under a
separate Management Committee and serviced by an Independent Secretariat.

·As it is
envisioned that the Independent Secretariat would be housed outside Parliament
there are likely to be more delays while offices are established and staff
recruited.

·The new
scheme is no guarantee that funds will come in a manner acceptable to ZANU-PF,
who have insistedthat the
constitution-making process should not be funded “directly” by donors but
through government.

·It is a
pity that the inclusive government has not yet gazetted the powers of the
Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs – this omission makes his
position vis-à-vis
Parliament and the
constitution-making process ambiguous.

Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal
responsibility for information supplied